The Japanese regulatory landscape for electrical appliances underwent a pivotal shift in December 2025.
*Related: The December 2025 Amendments to the Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Act
Source: METI Official Presentation Slides published in April 2026
With the latest amendments, the business notification requirement under the PSE Act (Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Act) has been extended to overseas D2C sellers (Specified Importers), in addition to domestic importers.
As a Gyoseishoshi (Licensed Administrative Scrivener) specializing in product safety and international market entry, I analyzed the official registration data as of February 2026.
The Current Landscape: A Market Defined by Overseas D2C
The manufacturer/importer must submit a notification to the Japanese government (METI).
According to the notified data, the distribution of notified business entities in Japan currently stands as follows:
- Importers: 98.8%
- Manufacturers: 1.2%
Within the “Importer” category (which accounts for 98.8% of the total), a clear trend emerges:
- Domestic Japanese Importers: 8.9%
- Specified Importers (Overseas D2C Entities): 91.1%
Japan’s market is now overwhelmingly driven by overseas manufacturers engaging directly with consumers.
When we look at the geographic breakdown of these Specified Importers, the concentration is striking:
- China: 95.2%
- Hong Kong: 4.0%
- Others: 0.8%
The Bottleneck to Market Entry
The data says that most of the notified overseas sellers are from China.
There are definitely many sellers with exceptional technical capabilities and high-quality products in other countries.
However, they have not yet entered Japan’s D2C market.
This may be due to regulatory issues.
Japanese safety regulations are said to be very strict and can be a bottleneck to Japan market entry for many manufacturers.
Now, Japan relies heavily on imports. Japanese consumers are ready.
That leaves only one real obstacle: regulatory compliance.
The December 2025 amendments have made the path clearer than ever.
Manufacturers who file the required notifications and enter the market as compliant, trustworthy players are not entering a crowded space. They are stepping into a blue ocean.
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